


The Life You Save May Be Your Own

by outruntheavalanche



Category: Original Work, Room for One More (Urban Legend)
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Burma-Shave Billboard Jingles, Driving, Exhaustion, Gen, Retelling, Urban Legends, urban legend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-05
Updated: 2018-05-05
Packaged: 2019-05-02 13:34:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14545833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/outruntheavalanche/pseuds/outruntheavalanche
Summary: Mary-Ann had been driving for so long she felt as if she’d gone straight from simply drowsy to bone-weary and exhausted in ten seconds flat.





	The Life You Save May Be Your Own

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DesertVixen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DesertVixen/gifts).



> This story has a mix of influences, but mostly it’s _Twilight Zone_ inspired (more _The Hitch-Hiker_ and _Mirror Image_ , for mood, than _Twenty Two_ tbh). Also, I’m preeeeetty sure I was told a scary story about Burma-Shave roadside billboards when I was in elementary school but to this day, I can’t find any evidence of such a story even after multiple google attempts. Anyway, the idea of Burma-Shave signs has vaguely creeped me out ever since.
> 
> I hope you enjoy this, [](http://www.archiveofourown.org/users/DesertVixen/profile)[**DesertVixen**](http://www.archiveofourown.org/users/DesertVixen/)!
> 
> Thanks to [](http://www.archiveofourown.org/users/blastellanos/profile)[**blastellanos**](http://www.archiveofourown.org/users/blastellanos/) and [](http://www.archiveofourown.org/users/tobalance/profile)[**tobalance**](http://www.archiveofourown.org/users/tobalance/) for looking this over!
> 
> Title inspired by [this](http://nullrefer.com/?http://burma-shave.org/jingles/1953/these_signs) and [this](http://nullrefer.com/?http://faculty.smu.edu/nschwart/2312/lifeyousave.htm).

Mary-Ann had been driving for so long she felt as if she’d gone straight from simply drowsy to bone-weary and exhausted in ten seconds flat. Of course, it couldn’t have been merely ten seconds, judging by the odometer that taunted her cruelly, but time had long ago lost all meaning.

Mary-Ann struggled to keep her eyes open as she cruised down circuitous, pockmarked asphalt and took in the rugged mountains and canopy of pine trees that loomed overhead. It really was a lovely drive, if the scenery that passed by one’s window was something one enjoyed. Mary-Ann had other things on her mind, at the moment. She supposed she could be forgiven if the scenic route didn’t quite hold her interest.

Her handbag sat on the passenger seat next to her like a gaping mouth, all the contents having spilled out. Her cell phone glinted in the shafts of moonlight that winked and flickered like candlelight as she drove. Mary-Ann’s fingers itched to grab the cell phone and hammer out an angry text to Theo, but she clenched her fingers on the steering wheel instead. Mary-Ann couldn’t afford to be distracted and that’s what Theo was, at the moment. One big distraction, all six-foot-four of him.

Theo was the reason Mary-Ann was on this seemingly endless sojourn, anyway.

Mary-Ann flicked her eyes briefly to the phone and thought of giving him a call anyway or, at least, a text.

She took a moment to lift her eyes from the phone and very nearly skidded off the road. Right there, on the side of the road, was a billboard. But this wasn’t any billboard. It was seemingly addressed to _her_!

**Mary-Ann, Don’t Be Late!**

Frowning, she felt herself easing her foot onto the gas even though the sign couldn’t possibly be addressed to her. Mary-Ann was a common name, after all. It was probably just an unusually specific advertisement.

Mary-Ann sped on, though a strange weight had settled in the pit of her stomach now.

She thought of calling Theo to tell him about the sign. Then, Mary-Ann mentally kicked herself for not having snapped a picture of it because she knew Theo would never believe her story now.

Mary-Ann felt her frown deepen when she rounded the curve and there was another sign not too far ahead.

**We’re Waiting For You —**

She was more certain now that the billboards were meant to be roadside warnings for erratic or irresponsible drivers. Certainly not Mary-Ann. She had only glanced at her phone a few times, and she hadn’t even texted Theo like she wanted to.

As she drove on, Mary-Ann recalled—vaguely, as if in a dreamlike fog—her grandmother telling her about old jingles that used to be advertised on billboards. Mary-Ann remembered thinking the idea of roadside jingles was rather silly and maybe even a little dangerous. What if a driver had gotten distracted and skidded off the road? She wondered how many people before her had gotten into accidents because they’d been distracted by a cutesy billboard jingle.

Mary-Ann felt a chill roll down her spine.

What an unsettling trip this had been. Theo had begged her and begged her to come back, promising to change. Promising to be better, and Mary-Ann had finally acquiesced. Her parents hadn’t wanted her to move back in with him, but Mary-Ann just couldn’t stay away. So here she was, on a lonesome stretch of winding highway, kept company only by her rambling thoughts and these odd billboards.

Another sign waited up ahead. Mary-Ann’s stomach roiled as she read, her grip tightening as if to keep any invisible hands from jerking the wheel.

**Come Meet Your Fate!**

The signs seemed to be coming more and more quickly now, and Mary-Ann felt herself leaning forward, peering through the windshield almost eagerly.

**Don’t Wait to Knock on the Door**

There was another sign just a few yards ahead.

**You Needn't Feel Blue —**

Mary-Ann held the steering wheel in a white-knuckled grip, her heart thudding painfully in her chest. Her breath shot out of her in anxious gasps, and she could feel herself growing light-headed.

She was certain now that someone was playing a cruel trick on her, though she couldn’t be entirely sure _why_ or _how_. Mary-Ann reached over and snatched up her cell phone, unlocking the homescreen.

Mary-Ann brought up the last text message from Theo— _come back pls im sorry ill be better i luv u_ —and started to type out a message as she held onto the steering wheel in one hand.

_the strangest thing is happening to me u would never believe—_

The last billboard—something cold and final sliced through Mary-Ann’s gut and, somehow, she just _knew_ —loomed ahead, almost taunting her. Beckoning her. Waiting for her.

Mary-Ann tossed the phone aside, held her breath, and pressed a hand over her mouth as it came into view.

**There’s Always Room For One More!**

Fear gripped her by the throat. Her heart was hammering so desperately, she thought it might leap out of her chest. Her palms were clammy now and slipped on the steering wheel.

Mary-Ann didn’t know who was waiting for her or why, all she knew was she didn’t feel safe. She jerked the wheel and skidded to the shoulder of the road. The tires of her old car spun helplessly in the gravel for a few too-long moments, before Mary-Ann shifted, U-turned and sped off in the other direction.

She could feel the sign at her back like a presence. A specter.

She knew Theo was waiting for her, but something urgent swelled inside her, telling her only to get as far away as possible.

***

Alice was surprised to see Mary-Ann step back into the house and shut the door behind her. Her daughter looked bedraggled, and shouldn’t she have been reunited with Theo by now?

Alice got up to greet Mary-Ann in the foyer.

“What happened?” she asked, catching Mary-Ann in her arms just as the girl collapsed against her chest wearily.

Mary-Ann buried her face against her mother’s neck for a moment, before lifting her head. “Mama, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” she said.

“Is it Theo?” Alice asked.

“Yes. I mean, no. I don’t know, Mama,” Mary-Ann sighed, wrapping her arms loosely around Alice’s midsection. “I’m just so tired and confused and…”

“Of course, dear,” Alice said, slipping her arm around Mary-Ann’s shoulders as she led her down the hall. “Go on. I’ll go get you some pajamas.”

Mary-Ann nodded, offering her mother a shaky smile, before trudging down the hall.

Alice returned to the den and picked up the remote to shut off the TV.

“Tragic news to report, as a motorist was killed in a one-car accident out on Ward’s Pass earlier tonight,” said the news anchor.

Alice frowned and thumbed up the volume. Wasn’t that the long stretch of road Mary-Ann had just been on?

“An unidentified male lost control of his car and rolled down the embankment and into the lake,” the anchor continued in his somber tone. “The driver was unable to free himself from the vehicle and is presumed to have drowned. Divers were unable to—”

Alice shook her head and shut off the TV. There was no use in bothering Mary-Ann with such unpleasantness. The girl had had enough in her life recently, with that boyfriend of hers.

Alice went to the linen closet and pulled out some spare pajamas, and then went to deliver them to Mary-Ann.


End file.
